The other side of Gatsby: rediscover this sensational bestseller that unveiled the Jazz Age
from the flappers' perspective Ranging from posh Beacon Hill to go-go New York City to stately
Virginia a sweeping coming-of-age story of three women's lives loves and ambitions in the
1920s '30s and '40s An uncompromising literary portrait of the interior lives of women The
Prodigal Women was an explosive hit when published in 1942 the scent of scandal propelling it
to the bestseller list. It tells the intertwined stories of Leda March a lonely New England
schoolgirl and Betsy and Maizie Jekyll daughters of a transplanted Virginia clan who upend
Boston society tracing their friendship from adolescence into adulthood through childhood
bullying a string of abusive marriages dangerous liaisons botched abortions and feminist
awakenings with Leda ultimately turning her back on love and desire and embracing her own
mysterious inner strength. Fascinating and gripping The Prodigal Women was a crucial influence
on such later works as Mary McCarthy's The Group and Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls
and it remains powerfully resonant today.
